ClueBy
TodayArchiveWord list

Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
YesNo
↻ New worksheet

Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. spell — letters
  3. march — the month
  4. band — a ring
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. pound — a weight
  7. spell — magic
  8. march — music
  9. land — to come down
  10. field — for sport
  11. land — a country
  12. field — a subject
  13. hand — help
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. land — ground
  16. band — a music group
  17. march — the month
  18. spell — a short time
  19. hand — in cards
  20. field — farmland
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  24. pound — for dogs

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com